Deals to result in more than $240,000 in bonus payments.
Harrisburg, PA -(Ammoland.com)- The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners today approved energy lease agreements on two tracts of state game lands.
Together, the agreements would bring in more than $240,000 in revenue from bonus payments. The first lease pertains to State Game Lands 245 in Washington County. The Game Commission owns 50 percent of the oil and gas rights beneath the tract, and the remaining 50 percent was owned privately, but already has been leased .
The agreement as approved would convey to Patriot Exploration the Game Commission’s oil and gas rights beneath about 359 acres of the game lands. The amount of the bonus payment to the Game Commission has been negotiated at $3,000 per acre. However, some of the bonus payment – $317,366 – would be waived as a means of providing final resolution to a previously negotiated settlement agreement with Amerikohl Mining Co.
The amount is being waived because it already has been paid to the Game Commission by Amerikohl as part of the previous agreement. It is being applied as credit due. After applying the credit due, the Game Commission would receive the remaining $220,714 from the bonus payment.
Amerikohl conducted an exhaustive coal exploration program on several state game lands, but could not find a coal reserve in which the commission and Amerikohl could agree to effectuate a coal-mining lease. Patriot is an affiliate company of Amerikohl, and Amerikohl has agreed to allow the portion of bonus payment for Patriot’s oil and gas lease to serve as resolution of the previous agreement.
Game Commission staff negotiated the proposed terms of the agreement with Amerikohl and Patriot in an effort to safeguard the prudent development of the commission’s oil and gas reserve, and at the same time, protect wildlife resources and the recreational uses of State Game Lands 245. There will be no surface impact to the game lands.
And in addition to the bonus payment, the Game Commission would receive a 19 percent royalty for all oil and gas, or other liquids or condensates, produced and sold from the tract. The second agreement is with Noble Energy, which is seeking to purchase the oil and gas rights beneath about 5 acres straddling the border between Greene and Washington counties.
Noble has a strong privately owned lease hold position surrounding this portion of State Game Lands 302 in Richhill Township, Greene County and West Finley Township, Washington County. The oil and gas to be transferred could be accessed by horizontal drilling with no surface disturbance to the game lands.
The five-year agreement results in a $19,736 bonus payment to the Game Commission, as well as 18.5 percent in royalties for all oil and gas, or other liquids or condensates produced and sold from the tract.
About the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC)
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is legally mandated to manage wildlife for the benefit of all Pennsylvanians, as well as all wildlife and the habitat that supports their existence. Pennsylvania’s Constitution and Game and Wildlife Code direct the Game Commission to protect, manage, and preserve wildlife and their habitat within the Commonwealth for the benefit of all people, including generations yet to come. Based on this direction, the Game Commission adopted the mission statement “to manage all wild birds, wild mammals, and their habitats for current and future generations.”